A last ditch appeal for donations helped push the Business Cares Food Drive well beyond its goal.
Organizers of the food drive announced on Thursday 325,500 lbs of food were collected for the London Food Bank, a 5% jump from last year.
"We took down ten truck loads of food this morning to the London Food Bank. It is now jammed up, they can't take anymore," said Wayne Dunn, chair of the Business Cares Food Drive. "Right now in our warehouse we probably have another two to three truck loads. We will send that to the food bank within the next couple of weeks, once they have space available."
As of Monday, the three-week campaign had only reached 55% of its goal of 307,800 lbs of food. The shortage prompted Dunn to issue an urgent appeal for more food and monetary donations.
"This time yesterday I was quite concerned. I knew our food poundage was looking good but we needed the cheques to buy all that fresh produce, milk, and eggs. The cheques that came in the last 24 hours have never been better," said Dunn.
The food drive has managed to exceed its goal every Christmas over the past 17 years. More than 525 businesses accepted the challenge to collect donations for the food bank this year, roughly 100 more than took part last year.
Dunn noted the 5% surge of donations will help the food bank cope with a 12% increase in demand for its services compared to this time last year.
"We put a little dent into that. I am very grateful to everyone for helping us," said Dunn.
